Michael Proctor of Gamebred Jiu-Jitsu Tacoma, WA

It saddens me to write this thread because Micheal was someone I liked. We never hanged out outside of class, but he was a training buddy and a good guy. That's why I'm hoping the accusations against, which I will write below, are false.

When I left for Brazil at the end of January, Micheal was a two-stripe blue belt. He's not exceptional, no BJ Penn, he still got submitted by white belts, but he was a solid blue belt. Our coach, James Foster, has always been fair with his gradings in my opinion. He doesn't charge for promotions or anything stupid like that. When he thinks you're ready, he calls you forward and gives you your new rank.

Micheal had been training and competing in MMA in addition to BJJ, but had been doing it at another school: Team Psycho. We have an program at Foster's but Micheal didn't like the way the guy ran it, which I can understand because he can have a very mitilary way of doing things (I think he was a USMC drill sergant or something). To give you an idea, this guy used to run a conditioning class, but since no one ever went to it more than once (it was a good class if someone puked), it has since been canceled.

Fast forward six months. I return from Brazil happy to see the everyone and amazed at how much some people improved. I ask about everyone I haven't seen, including Micheal, which is when I'm given the story bu Foster.

It turns out, and there's a thread here about it which I'm too lazy to find, that the owner and operator of Team Psycho is a third degree sex offender. This effectively ended the school. Micheal then left Foster's to open his own school, Gamebred Jiu-Jitsu, in Tacoma and got promoted to the rank of third degree purple belt under a new instructor, Marcello Monteiro, who he is also now affilated under.

From what I understand, the level of BJJ at Team Psycho wasn't very high. I was told that one of our two-stripe white belts went up there and trashed everyone, after which they offered to promote him to blue belt for $75.

So now, the people at Foster's (which I am not including myself in for the purposes of this thread) are accusing him of buying a belt from a new instructor and opening a school under him. Logic suggests that these accusations are correct since I find it pretty much impossible that someone can go from a two-stripe blue belt to a three-stripe purple belt in that little time. On a side note, his girlfriend, Shawndee, was a two-stripe white belt, and is now a one stripe blue belt. But I think it's worth noting that Micheal has absolutely alienated himself from the people at Foster's with his shitty business practices.

After forming his own school, and taking the former students of Team Psycho with him, he emailed students at Foster's, maligning Foster and telling them to join his gym. The students then forwarded the emails to Foster, who wrote to Micheal about it. Micheal appologized, saying that Monteiro was filling his head with all kinds of bullshit. Micheal has continued this practice by maligning the other MMA school in Tacoma, T-Town MMA.

I realize these aren't exactly war crimes, but if this is true, it also suggest that the Monteiro is selling belts to set a network of BJJ McDojos across the country and maybe he should have his own thread. But first things first.

Maybe someone can visit the school and come back to write their thoughts. I would go myself, but I don't really have the time to go down to Tacoma and roll with him myself, since I'm about to have surgury and then go back to Brazil. I would also make a bad match up since he's only a featherweight (last I saw him) and I'm a middleweight.

I can also ask Foster to come on here and comment, and maybe make sure I got the details right. I'm not really sure about the timeline for when this all happened.

Thanks for bringing this up. Just a minor correction. First, Michael Proctor has, to my knowledge, no actual MMA fights, but claims to have had several amateur fights. I don't believe he's ever actually had a fight.

Otherwise, it looks like you've got the chronology pretty much right there. Sorry you got this dose of drama coming back from Brazil.

Some other things that bother me a little are that he has already has a blue belt affiliate who teaches at another location. I don't know the guy who teaches at the "affiliate" but it just rubs me the wrong way.

Cowardly Lurker trains with me at Foster's is probably more familiar with the situation than I am.

But actaully he did have a fight on Saturday, which he did win. I watched Foster check into it on MySpace and found his opponent congradualte him on his victory. But one of the accusations is that he claims many MMA fights which he doesn't have. I didn't mention this because I couldn't find anywhere where he claims a number of fights that can be refuted.

You know what, a homeboy of mine trains there. He used to train at Team Psycho and is now with them. I'm going to shoot him an email with this thread and see what he says about things. I initially looked into the guy at Team Psycho and let it slide even though my spider-sense was tingling. This was way before the Bullshido thread. Then I found out all that mess about child molestation and felt bad for dropping the ball. I'm not going to drop it this time.

Cowardly Lurker trains with me at Foster's is probably more familiar with the situation than I am.

But actaully he did have a fight on Saturday, which he did win. I watched Foster check into it on MySpace and found his opponent congradualte him on his victory. But one of the accusations is that he claims many MMA fights which he doesn't have. I didn't mention this because I couldn't find anywhere where he claims a number of fights that can be refuted.

I stand corrected.

I never had a problem with Mikey and hope that, now that you've brought it out in the open, everything gets cleared up. I haven't talked to him since he left, though.

That entire episode with "Coach K" was a nightmare. I still get really bent out of shape over that. There were a lot of kids in that guy's school. To be clear, though, I don't hold that against Mikey or anyone else.

Do you know when exactly he left and started calling himself a purple belt? Was it right when Team Psycho folded (soon after I left). If so, he'd have been at the same skill level as when I saw him last.

I know that one of his accusations of Foster is that he only promotes his 'inner circle', which I'm assuming he means the people Foster sees most often and is most friendly with. Which makes sense, since if he sees you more often, you're training more often.

I think that Mikey thinks that he was already a purple belt, but just got passed over for promotion for some perceived personal reasons. But what's really silly, is that if Foster did have an inner circle, Mikey would be part of it! Foster trusted Mikey to run warm ups and teach first-timers how to hip escape.

That entire episode with "Coach K" was a nightmare. I still get really bent out of shape over that. There were a lot of kids in that guy's school. To be clear, though, I don't hold that against Mikey or anyone else.

I wanted to talk to you about something. I remember speaking with you some time ago regarding your instructor at your previous MMA gym Team Psycho. Basically, the guy threw up a lot of red flags for me. You seemed happy with it so I decided to let it slip. Eventually though, a lot of stuff came out and from what I understand, everyone parted ways and started training somewhere else.

That brings me to this, I'd like to direct you to this thread on Bullshido.net. The website is basically a martial arts community committed to exposing BS in the martial arts. People with fake credentials, people claiming rank they did not earn, people claiming to be able to shoot fireballs, etc, etc, and so forth. You being in the martial arts for as long as you have, probably have seen a lot of this first hand. Essentially, the credentials of your current instructor, Michael Proctor, has been called into question. Essentially, it seems some people that used to train with him feel that his actual skill level do not match his rank. As such, an inquiry thread on Bullshido has been posted here:

If you want to come on there and say a few words or have Michael, himself, come on there and refute any of the claims, it would go a long way to putting this matter to rest.

One thing to keep in mind: This forum is not for the faint of heart. A lot of people can come off as mean-spirited and downright spiteful but most are good people who train hard and hate to see others who haven't put in their work attempt to benefit off the backs of those who have. That would be the best way I could describe.

If you want any additional information, just let me know. Your good people and I don't want to see you in the same situation you found yourself in previously.

Thanks for listening,

[my name removed]

Originally Posted by Kentucky Fried Chokin

I'd love to know what you're friend has to say. Also, how would you judge your friend's ability? Is accurate with his rank?

Not sure, we used to train back in 2004. We keep in touch via MySpace. I haven't had the chance to roll with him since then although I've seen him at a few BJJ tournaments. I have some time off of work at the beginning of next month. Basically, from Sept 4th until Spet 8th. I will probably be driving my car down there to have it serviced as it will probably be cheaper than up here where I'm at (Bellingham). If all parties are willing and if required, I can go down there and get some training in, talk to people, and whatnot.

For those who are curious, I am a 2-stripe Purple and my lineage can be found in my signature.

Do you know when exactly he left and started calling himself a purple belt? I know that one of his accusations of Foster is that he only promotes his 'inner circle', which I'm assuming he means the people Foster sees most often and is most friendly with. Which makes sense, since if he sees you more often, you're training more often.

I think that Mikey thinks that he was already a purple belt, but just got passed over for promotion for some perceived personal reasons. But what's really silly, is that if Foster did have an inner circle, Mikey would be part of it! Foster trusted Mikey to run warm ups and teach first-timers how to hip escape.

I suck with dates, but I think he left February 2009 as a 2 stripe blue belt and by June was a 3 stripe purple.

The allegation that James shows favoritism is baseless. Bing and Josh are two of the most talented guys in the school, both starting at around the same time as Mikey and they each received their purple belts within the last month or so... after the mundials.